


(if you don't like me) tell me

by misscuriouscat



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: (...or is it?), (a bit of), (at the last part), (bit bit bit), (it's probably not all that TBH), (maybe a tiny bit of), (with a bit of), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Comedy, Crushes, Cute, First Dates, Fluff, Funny, Jealousy, Jisung's POV, Light Angst, M/M, Minho's POV, Misunderstandings, Short Story, Song fic, Unrequited Crush, inspired by a manga, inspired by a song, inspired by a true story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:07:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26235391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misscuriouscat/pseuds/misscuriouscat
Summary: Minho jokes, “If you don’t like me, just tell it straight to my face.”To which Jisung only raises an eyebrow. A pregnant pause passes until he calmly asks, “And if I like you? What should I do then? Don’t tell you?”--Apparently, Jisung likes Changbin, if his oh-so sneaky glances at the latter are safe to present as evidence. And most definitely, Jisung can’t stand Minho’s presence because the former can’t help but to try and run away from the latter whenever they’re within each other’s radius.Or is Minho wrong?
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 138





	1. intro. one. two. three.

**Author's Note:**

>   
> hello,
> 
> \+ this is my second stray kids and minsung au (the first one is still not done and i've only posted like 2 chapters. but you can check that out if you want. it's angst... i guess? my writing style in that one is kinda different than in this  
> \+ well, it's been a few weeks and i'm still not finished with this. but i decided to post 41.67% to see if some of you would like the story. and maybe it'd get me inspired (or pressured?) to write the rest  
> \+ so please please please give me feedback. thanks!  
> \+ the title comes from a local song (by a band called 'parokya ni edgar' ~~_sigaw naman dyan mga kababayan!_~~ ) and i just translated it to english  
> \+ if you want to hear the song, [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFzXZbmF9rc) it is and [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duE3Kk0MD98) is also cover  
> \+ p.s. this is unbetaed. also, english is not my first language. and once again, this is only my second fic, so please bear with me  
> 

**_Intro_ **

It all started when Yushi, Chan, Minho, and Changbin started to pass their time at their school’s main building’s center stairs.

The main building at their school is a three-story structure designated for the Grade 12 students and the staff offices for Science and Mathematics departments.

The top floor is a gymnasium that serves nothing like its name and is only being used for their weekly opening ceremonies [to almost everyone’s dismay as they would climb up two floors every Monday.]

[[The real fitness and athletic things only happen at the sports ground located one building away from the main one, which is commonly and jokingly called by the students as ‘The Oval.’]]

The main building’s middle and ground floor is for all the Grade 12 classes: A-H — that many because only 15 students are allowed per class.

The east end of each level is a staff office. The Mathematics Department is on the first, aligned with classes E to H, while the Science Department is on the second, aligned with classes A to D.

The west end of each floor is the stairs, with an adjacent comfort room.

The middle and ground floor also has stairs at the center. They are placed between 12-B and 12-C on the second story and between 12-F and 12-G on the first. And these places are where Minho and his friends mostly gather around during their breaks or vacant time.

[So yeah, it all started with the four of them and the legendary main building’s center stairs.]

\--

\--

**_x_ **

Today, Minho and his friends are sitting on the second-floor center stairs.

Well, the three are sitting while Minho is the only one standing. His right leg is bent, one foot at a lower step on the stairs, the other at a higher one. His hands rest on his knee. At the same time, the right side of his body leans on the wall next to him.

He traces his fingers between his dark brown hair strands, feeling its softness, as he laughs at Changbin’s face after Yushi secretly and successfully pranks their friend _again_ into eating sour candy.

Minho briefly turns away while chuckling. Then, through the vast windowpanes, he spots a pair of eyes watching from the building across theirs.

He only catches a glimpse of what seems to be blue-colored hair before he looks at his friends again, then proceeds to forget for a few minutes that the four of them seem to have an observer.

That is until their break is over, and they all stand up to go back to their class.

Yushi is ahead of them, walking quickly as if she won’t make it on time if she treads to the other three’s pace. Meanwhile, Chan is back hugging Changbin as they both follow the girl. The older boy is poking the other one’s cheek with one finger and all the while teasing, ‘ _Our Binnie is disgustingly cute_.’

Minho fondly watches his friends as he walks behind them all, a smile ghosting on his lips.

But when he unconsciously decides to look outside again, he quickly finds the onlooker earlier.

It’s because of the blue hair that they have — unexpectedly, it’s a boy from 11-B if Minho guesses the class correctly by the location of the classroom the boy is sitting in — and it’s also because said boy is still gawking at them, especially at Chan and Changbin.

Then, to Minho’s surprise, the boy gives off a tiny smile, adorably so as if he can’t stand the cuteness between— oh.

 _Oh_.

Minho gasps for a second, then he giggles afterward. He covers his mouth so no one else can hear him as he mentally notes to himself about this kid who either seemingly likes Chan or Changbin.

He thinks it’s the former.

\--

**_x_ **

It’s not Chan, but Minho isn’t willing to admit it yet that it’s probably Changbin, whom _Blue_ likes.

(He calls the boy _Blue_ because of his hair color if that isn’t obvious.)

[But why does Minho think it’s Changbin? Well, here’s a list of evidence that he’ll gladly present on the table:]

\--

**_ One; _ **

They’re at the stairs again, but this time, they’re at the center stairs on the ground floor, as Yushi suggested earlier.

They have just returned from the school cafeteria to buy some food and drinks for a light lunch (well, except for Changbin).

Minho and Chan both purchased a ham and cheese triangle sandwich, triangle kimbap, and strawberry milk.

Yushi bought herself two pieces of cheese bread without drinks. She reasoned, _‘I have a water jug on my desk. I’ll drink when we return to class,’_ when they questioned her about it.

Changbin, on the other hand, bought a rather large plastic lunch box containing kimchi rice, pork cutlet, pickled radish, and four slices of an egg roll. He also purchased an energy drink.

He ends up sitting on the bottom of the stairs, both of his knees curled up to balance his lunch. He looks like a kid between Yushi and Chan, also sitting on the steps while eating.

After he takes a bite of his triangle kimbap, Minho complains that they could have just eaten in the cafeteria so that he won’t feel sorry for Changbin.

But Chan quickly reminds him that Minho is the one who doesn’t even like eating there in the first place because people kept interrupting him while eating.

Chan casually also comments a bit too quickly, **“What can we do? Our Minho is cute!”** He even goes to stand up and places his hand on the said cute one’s chin, all fingers down except his pointer and thumb. Minho only scoffs. Chan retreats back to where he was sitting.

 **“They just always want to talk to you,”** Yushi also teases him as she finishes her food.

Which is simultaneously overlaid by a retort from Changbin to Minho, seven seconds too late. **“Why are you complaining when I should be the one?”**

 **“You know what, you brought that to yourself. I regret that I said anything.”** Minho rolls his eyes as if to show he’s had enough. The other three just laugh at him.

Then suddenly, they’re interrupted by a faint sound of what seems to be a cough.

Four heads turn to their back, facing the stairs that lead to the second floor.

 _Blue_ is on the steps and is shyly looking anywhere but them. He is lowering his head, which makes him shorter than his already petite self.

(Minho wonders why his heart unexpectedly started beating faster.) [A second later, he just assumes it’s only excitement because he gets to have a front-seat on the drama that he has recently discovered.]

 **“Oh, sorry for obstructing your way,”** Chan apologizes with a sweet tone, hurrying the others who were sitting on the bottom steps so three of them can make way.

While they are moving, Minho, who wasn’t in the way because he was leaning his hip on the stair handle, takes a chance to glance at the real-life drama’s protagonists.

Blue didn’t seem to fluster at all after what Chan said, but Minho still waited for a reaction. (He almost convinced himself that maybe it’s really Yushi that Blue’s crushing on and not either of his two male friends. Well…)

Until he notices that Changbin is trying to catch Blue’s attention as he passes all of them on his way, and Changbin succeeds in doing so.

To Minho’s surprise, his friend playfully moves his eyebrows up and down _twice_ as if he’s teasing Blue. And—

And Blue becomes a canvass of pink, all the while throwing a grin at Changbin.

Minho mentally pats himself on the back because he didn’t end up with his mouth hanging down.

Because _that_ was unexpected, and he almost shuts down out of curiosity.

Once Blue is out of their sight, Minho probably snapped his neck because of the way he quickly looks at Changbin.

He wants to ask something, but the latter is already looking at him (and Minho doesn’t know why).

Yushi actually beats him to it and asks Changbin if he knows the younger student.

Changbin answers, **“A bit, yeah,”** then he doesn’t provide any other information than that.

The other two didn’t pry, and none of them even wondered why an 11th grader was in their building, but Minho is _really_ about to die out of curiosity.

\--

**_ Two; _ **

They’re at the stairs again on the second floor.

They’re supposed to be having their homeroom class right now, but their adviser came by earlier to say that he won’t be able to meet them because there’s an emergency staff meeting, resulting in Chan, since he’s the class president, to check their class’s attendance instead.

He even joked, _‘Today, we’ll play all day.’_ That would have been truthful and awesome if the emergency staff meeting lasted the whole day.

All four of them are sitting on the third step from the bottom of the stairs, arranged from left to right: Yushi, Chan, Changbin, and Minho. They’re all on their phones, playing against each other on a round of KartRider.

Minho has won three times a row since they started, and he’s not willing to end his streak.

Right now, he thinks one or two of his friends are holding themself back so they won’t yell as Minho passes by their characters so quickly once again in the game.

 **“Should I slow down a bit to see if anyone of you could catch up?”** he even clowns them once he sees he’s so far ahead.

He only gets a set of groans in return. But he lets his character reduce its speed to give them a chance (that he would take back in a few minutes when he overtakes them again).

He glances at his friends to observe their faces; they’re all biting their bottom lips, eyebrows curled in concentration.

He looks up for a second to breathe. But as his eyes catch a mop of shiny blue hair, he forgets whatever he’s about to do.

Said shiny blue hair owner, _Blue_ , has just entered his classroom on the other building.

Dressed in their school uniform with his tie undone, he looks like he ran only to make it to the place. Though his look of panic quickly disappears and transforms into confusion as he realizes that half of his classmates aren’t even inside and that there’s no adviser to be found.

Minho deduces that Blue was supposed to be late, and he just got lucky. One corner of Minho’s lips rises at this.

Blue hops to his seat at the near end of the room, the one next to the windows, where Minho saw him sitting before upon his discovery of this real-life cute romantic drama (possibly even comedy).

Once Blue settles his bag down, he looks up with a broad smile on his face. His gaze is directed to somewhere in Minho’s building, which he can only guess as to their classroom.

Blue sees that Minho and his friends aren’t in the room at all, so he quickly fixes his eyes on the stairs.

Minho waits as Blue identifies each of them.

He doesn’t give off the sight of excitement as he zeroes in on Yushi and Chan. This results in Minho being eagerly and curiously on the edge of his seat as Blue’s eyes fall on Changbin and—

And there’s no reaction at all.

Until Blue directly looks at Minho, and they’re eye-to-eye.

Then—

Then Blue furrows his eyebrows, lips forwarding a little like he’s pouting. He’s even narrowing his eyes.

Suddenly, he almost breaks his neck by turning away so hard. His whole body follows suit, taking his seat right away, and he even hides out of the window.

Minho gets taken aback, lifting one eyebrow.

He would have continued to be curious if only someone didn’t unexpectedly flick his forehead.

He intends to glare at the people on his right only to realize a little too late that his three friends are looking at him with triumphant smiles, especially Changbin. Then Minho hears his phone blaring the sound of the KartRider game ending and its announcement that he has lost.

To say that he’s pissed is an understatement, particularly after he gets mocked by Yushi, Chan, and Changbin. But he finds out later he couldn’t care less.

He has seen something that he can categorize as a sign that this real-life drama just got a little better.

(Okay, maybe Blue’s reaction to him doesn’t actually scream that Blue likes Changbin. But it’s definitely a piece of evidence that Blue _dislikes_ Minho. Right?

 _Nevermind_. He’s too absorbed in this Blue-Changbin drama to waste his time to care.) [But he should have had from the start.]

\--

**_ Three; _ **

They’re at the stairs again on the ground floor.

The four friends sit side by side on the steps, watching the harsh pouring of rain outside the main building dumbly. They seem to have settled unspokenly to wait it out.

Minho and Chan sit beside each other, resting their heads on their palms and elbows on their knees. Meanwhile, Yushi has a hoodie on top of her uniform to fight against the cold that’s slowly creeping on her skin. Changbin, on the other hand, is gradually getting sleepy as he steadies on looking onto the downpour.

There is an earthy scent in the air that travels from one nose to another and a comfortable silence among them as they wait.

Soon, Yushi announces to the group, in a barely audible bored voice, **“Maybe we can borrow an umbrella or two from the Math or Science Department.”**

To which the three grunts in agreement as an answer to her. It’s painfully obvious that they’re all eager to go home because of tiredness.

Changbin stands up, declaring that he’ll try to borrow from the Math Department. And Chan says that he’ll come with him.

Minho stands up too and saunters to Yushi, who’s on the other side of where he was. **“Science, yeah? Let’s go?”**

The latter carries herself up, then both of them proceed to step up to the second floor.

Nine minutes later, they find themselves back on the stairs, each holding an umbrella so large it is said to cover at least three students. (Well, that was what Mr. Park informed them.)

Yushi is on her phone, attempting to call Chan to tell them about the good news, just in case he and Changbin fail to borrow an umbrella from the Math Department. Minho is on her side, sitting in a squat position as they wait.

At the exact same time when Chan finally answered Yushi’s call, Minho recognizes his friends’ faces from a distance.

Chan and Changbin are under an umbrella, way too close to each other because the space to cover them from the steady rain is small. The former is holding his phone to his ears, neverminding that it would probably get wet. They’re laughing, and the sound can be heard from Yushi’s speaker. Looks like their Math Department mission failed, seeing as they’re coming from the second building. They must have had a Plan B.

They’re walking towards Yushi and Minho, the former relaying the lines through her phone, **“What are you two thinking?”**

As they get closer, Minho makes out another set of feet apart from his two friends’, all running and desperately avoiding puddles of rain but getting attacked anyway.

A feeling of confusion and tenseness drawl inside Minho’s chest; he gathers his hands to his arms and hugs himself.

Once the three reach a safe place where the rain can’t drench them anymore, the set separates and turn into Chan, Changbin, and…

 _Blue_.

His friends’ giggles — and apparently, Blue’s as well — can now nearly drown out the harsh singing of rain. [But Minho has muted everything since he saw the familiar blue hair, large expressive eyes, and full fluffy cheeks.]

Meanwhile, Yushi goes at them at once. **“Kids, the lot of you! Chan, I thought you’re better than this.”** Her tone is full of reprimanding authority, but the grin across her lips is betraying her.

And Chan, despite being scolded, had zero audacity to look sheepish. A broad smile is plastered on his pale face. He’s clearly still high from having fun under the rain.

He pauses in front of Minho and Yushi, handing out the umbrella they’ve just used, all wet. It’s like he’s presenting a peace offering. **“Hey, at least we were with an umbrella?”**

And he is correct with that part. But Minho’s attention is currently not on him.

Because Changbin and Blue — _Changbin and Blue!_ — are still next to each other, laughing and teasing each other, and Minho can’t hear anything — _anything!_ — at all.

It’s like the two are too engrossed in their own world that the universe does them a favor and keeps their secrets away from everyone else.

Minho knows he’s gawking like a predator. And he’s straining his ears, moving his upper body as far as he can just so he can have a bit of their conversation.

Changbin says something, making Blue blush, and when the latter suddenly locks eyes with Minho, he flushes even more.

Of course, Minho starts to burn with curiosity. But he shouldn’t make it obvious.

He gets up, but he doesn’t know what to do with his hands. Instead, he rakes his fingers through his brown hair. He’s looking everywhere except his friend and the younger person, while the pair is still going on with themselves.

Minho is still hoping that he would catch something from the two… a word, a phrase… a _name_.

But nothing.

Now Yushi’s voice is cutting through Minho’s ears. **“Minho, let’s go?”**

The girl’s eyes, along with Chan’s, are focused on Minho. Behind them, the heavy rain didn’t even give off a sign to simmer down soon. And the earthy scent became stronger, dancing at the entrance of Minho’s nose.

 **“I— Mm, okay.”** He glances at Changbin and Blue, gesturing to them with his thumb. **“Aren’t they coming?”** he asks, hopefully not giving the impression of being inquisitive.

Yushi and Chan follow to where he is pointing, both with puzzled eyebrows. But Chan replies, **“Oh. Changbin said something came up. We can go ahead.”**

Minho only grows curious, especially as Chan doesn’t explain further if this is related to Blue. (But since he and Changbin are together, maybe it’s safe to say it is?)

The three starts to walk away, umbrellas ready for the rain. Yushi and Chan pair up, while Minho goes solo.

Six steps away, Yushi takes one for the team _Nosy-Minho_ and whisper-asks with her hand on the side of her face, **“Wasn’t that the kid from the other week?”** Chan nods in response, so she continues, **“You were with him also. Are you close now?”**

**“Not… yet?”**

Then Chan proceeds to tell them how the Math Department ran out of umbrellas that can be borrowed. About how it was good timing for the kid to call Changbin, so they asked him. That it turned out, he has one, so they end up going to the building across theirs. That it also turned out that the two wouldn’t be joining them in walking home. So the two just escorted Chan back to Yushi and Minho.

That was when something struck Minho’s thoughts […said thoughts were floating on the clouds while he was listening to Chan].

Without thinking, Minho grabs something from the clasps of Chan’s fingers. The umbrella he’s using slips away from his fingers as he accidentally lets it go. But he doesn’t care.

He runs under the hammering rain. His destination? To where Changbin and Blue are. And both are still standing and totally still engrossed with each other.

Minho sets aside the feeling of faint jealousy. [He doesn’t know it yet, or even dare acknowledge the emotion.]

He’s wet, but again, he doesn’t care. All he knows is that Chan shouldn’t or couldn’t be _this_ forgetful. From where ‘Scatterbrain’ and Yushi are, Minho can hear them calling his name.

However, the two boys in front of the main building didn’t notice the yelling or Minho. But as he gets closer, Blue sees him. And his doe eyes grow slightly large, his heart lips slightly open, and Minho’s heart only slightly pinches at the sight.

He abruptly stops before them, his uniform sticking on his chest, his wet hair dripping on his face. He breathes out, **“Isn’t this yours?”**

Minho hands the red umbrella (that Chan had a while ago). He’s looking at Blue — _only_ looking at him.

And—

And Blue takes it from Minho, their fingers somewhat touching, somewhat cold from the weather.

And Minho stops to breathe for a second.

Or for a minute.

Meanwhile, Changbin, thankfully, didn’t comment on anything while watching them both. [But Minho hadn’t seen the way Changbin grinned for a millisecond because, of course, Minho’s eyes are _still_ on Blue.]

After what seems to be forever, Changbin says, **“Yah! We almost didn’t remember!”**

The words break the moment between Minho and Blue. The latter clears his throat, looking away from the former. He murmurs, **“T-thanks, sunbae-hyung.”**

Minho’s ears perk up while something tugs at the corner of his lips. **“Sure,”** he mumbles in return — too softly, too breathless.

He takes a step back. Then another step. And another step. Then he turns around quickly to get out of Changbin and Blue’s hair as if he didn’t want to disturb anything at all in the first place.

Once he gets back to Yushi and Chan, the former starts to scold him for his ‘foolishness and idiocracy’ (Yushi’s words) while the latter utters an apology because he forgot about the umbrella ( _‘You too! Did water get in your brain?’_ — again, Yushi’s words).

Despite Minho’s wet state, the two welcome him under the umbrella (Minho only realizes now that Mr. Park is right; it’s enormous).

Yushi and Chan squeeze Minho between them, oddly looking like a set of parents protecting their child from the rain, neverminding that the other huge umbrella Minho was using earlier is still available.

They start to have a conversation about showering once they get home later.

And Minho listens, but his thoughts are spiraling once again as they start to split into two: one, medicine for later, and two, Changbin and Blue.

[He is _too_ stubborn to admit that the second one is only about Blue.]

\--


	2. name. four. five. dislike.

**_x_ **

{It’s not like the thought of asking Changbin about Blue has never crossed Minho’s mind, but it does. It just happens about once every two days.

And it’s not like he thinks about the pair all the time. It’s just sometimes.

But he does get reminded of Changbin’s possible admirer every time he says he’s going to go the building across from theirs.

Which he always does so in the past, and Minho didn’t care back then. But this time, he can’t help but wonder, _Is it because of Blue?_

But now and then, Chan would also come along, and Minho assumes that maybe it isn’t because of Blue at all.}

\--

**_Name_ **

{It’s early in the morning, and Minho is still fighting back a faint hint of sleepiness. He hides a yawn into the palm of his hand as he walks.

Suddenly, there’s a weight on his shoulders, and a mild fruity scent conquers the air. Minho looks to his left side to find Changbin there.

 **“What’s with the cologne?”** Minho inquires just because he isn’t used to Changbin being all… fragrant.

His friend doesn’t respond to the question, though. Instead, Changbin’s face contorts a bit as if he’s confused at something. He procures his phone out to answer what seems to be an incoming call.

Minho only silently walks along while he also selectively listens to their conversion. It appears to be a co-member from Changbin’s music appreciation club.

 **“Alright, I’ll go there right now to hand it over then,”** Changbin declares before he hangs up. He then turns to Minho. **“I’m going to the second building a bit ‘cause I need to drop something to someone.”**

( _Second building_ , meaning the one across theirs. The one where the Grade 11 students are.)

Minho only nods at that, but only to find himself yell-whispering a millisecond later. **“Wait—”**

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Changbin’s ears are so good at hearing that he _actually_ waits for what Minho would say.

Changbin had detached himself from Minho earlier to start and head towards the second building. But he has stopped, and he’s now curiously looking at Minho.

 **“Can— Can I come with you?”** Minho’s words are out before he can even organize his thoughts.

Changbin, on the other hand, just unsuspiciously agrees by grabbing Minho’s wrist while mumbling an ‘ _Okay_.’

Before Minho knows it, the two are already on the path to the second building, crossing the central garden in front of it that displayed various flowers.

(It’s a sight to behold and a warm place to rest. It’s not only a garden, but it’s somewhat of a mini-park where students can lie on the full grass. Maybe that’s why the 11th graders always boast about their location since it has a cool hangout nearby.)

Changbin has let go of Minho’s hand minutes ago and is now furrowing his eyebrows while looking for something in his bag, albeit slightly furiously.

Minho clings onto his sling bag with his fingers. **“You often go here, right? At the second building?”**

 **“Yeah,”** Changbin answers, not looking away from his bag. But each time he would almost bump into someone, he skillfully dodges them.

 **“Is it sometimes because of Blue—”** Minho cuts himself, regretting that he has said the nickname _Blue_ casually in front of Changbin. But luckily, his attention is not entirely focused on Minho. So the latter continues… **“I mean, that one kid with the blue hair? Besides the fact that you visit your club members, of course.”**

His friend still doesn’t spare him a glance. **“What are you talking about?”** he asks Minho, then mutters, mostly to himself, **“Where the f—?”**

Changbin looks like he’s about to go insane until his hands are out of the bag in a second; he then thrusts both into the air. The item he’s holding out in the sky looks like a flash drive.

His gaze turns to Minho, triumphantly smiling as if he’s waiting to be congratulated for a job well done. **“His name is Jisung,”** he explains… out of nowhere.

**“W-what? Who?”**

**“The kid.”** And for a minute, Minho thought Changbin was exposing Blue’s name to him, but— **“One of our club’s younger members,”** his friend goes on. **“He’s new, actually; didn’t join until this year only.”**

 _Oh, it’s the club member we’re going to meet._ _I guess not, then_.

Minho replies an ‘ _Ah’_ before they fall into silence as they continue to walk. In his mind, he’s asking himself, _Why do I feel disappointed, though?_

[He didn’t catch the small smirk that flashed on Changbin’s lips because the latter’s back is on Minho as he continues to lead the other boy to their destination. But Minho should’ve read between the lines on what Changbin has said.]

When they reach the second building’s stairs, they hear a string of swear words from the floor above. Then there’s a loud thud. Both boys barely didn’t want to acknowledge the noise.

But someone is noisily, coarsely, and besiegingly running down the steps, both hands occupied with three boxes. The topmost has no lid, and it’s spilling out pieces of paper that were obviously too much for the carton to hold.

[Someone from the second floor yells that they’ll pick up the mess, possibly a message for the boy in front of the two 12th graders. (The voice of the shouter is deep. _So deep even for an 11th grader_ , Minho thinks, if the person _is_ even from that grade.)]

Without second thoughts, Minho taps Changbin on his shoulder and signals to the kid who’s still struggling to go down the stairs with that many containers he’s holding. The two can’t even see the kid’s face, so how can the latter know where his feet are stepping?

Minho steps forward and tries to catch the boy’s attention by coughing and blocking his path with one hand; hopefully, the young one will feel it.

 **“Excuse me, but will you let us help you?”** Minho politely asks.

Meanwhile, Changbin swiftly goes behind the kid, ready to take one box from him, only to show a look of recognition on his face afterward. He beams broadly at him. **“Yah! Jisung!”**

 _Ah, so this is the one Changbin is talking about_ , Minho presumes.

Changbin is already getting the top box while Jisung appears to be protesting a little. **“Changbin-hyung, wait! I’m okay!”**

 **“Please, who are you even kidding?”** Changbin protests back.

[Minho should have paid attention to their faces, or to the younger boy’s _voice_ , during the whole exchange of the two. But his focus is on the two cartons that this Jisung kid is still holding. So it’s a surprise to both of them when Minho casually takes one container out of Jisung’s hands. Because, _well_ …]

 **“Wait!”** Jisung objects again, this time to the one who’s pulling the second box away from him. His eyes are on the hands of the person at first, but when he looks up, he splutters, **“Mi— H-h— Sunbae! Wah, wait!”**

[Meanwhile, Minho, who didn’t seem to notice the younger one’s anxious state, coolly carries the carton away from Jisung. He gives the impression of being unaffected.

But once he turns to get a good look at the boy, he notices the navy blue hair right away, and he almost drops the container.]

Minho [also] almost chokes out the nickname ‘Blue.’

Both of their eyes are so wide, especially Jisung—

Especially _Blue_ —

The former looks away to Changbin, then to Minho again, then to Changbin, voiceless and shocked.

On the other hand, Minho feels like his throat has gotten dry; he swallows unconsciously, but the action hurts him.

He’s been rendered speechless before, but this time around, he doesn’t know the reason why.

Right now, he feels slightly nervous. He feels massively giddy. He can feel his heart beating so fast, he’s afraid it would break out of his chest.

Shouldn’t he be on the clouds, though? Shouldn’t he feel excited for his friend? Why is he like this? _Why?_

Changbin and Blue — _Jisung_ — are in front of him again. Another interaction between the two would play. This would be another series of finding clues or evidence if Blue — _Jisung_ — does like Changbin.

Minho swallows again, not knowing where to look anymore.

[All the while, the person besides Minho and Jisung is smiling knowingly at both of them. He’s watching with interest, his eyes filled with mischief and fondness.]

Changbin coughs loudly and inelegantly, causing the other two to look at him, almost jumping out of their bones. **“Should I officially introduce you two now? We haven’t got a chance last time, right?”**

 **“N-n-no! No need!”** Jisung bursts out suddenly.

 **“No need?”** Minho repeats the words, mostly to himself, confusion and hurt painted on his face.

His friend strides closer to Jisung and swings his arm around the younger person. [ _‘You’re coming off as rude, Jisung. I know you’re just nervous, but to other people, it would seem impolite,’_ Changbin whispers next to the younger’s left ear.]

Jisung abruptly takes his words all back. **“I mean, we can do that later! After we’re free of these boxes?”**

Changbin seems to be contented for now with Jisung’s statement, his lips pursed with a tiny hint of a smirk. While Minho only timidly nods.

The three of them start to head in an unknown direction. Jisung is in between Minho and Changbin as they walk. He’s tapping his fingers on the bottom of the box he’s carrying. The soft sound vibrating through the silence of the hallway.

Minho tries [keyword: try] to focus on looking straight ahead. But the problem is: how can he? When his friend and possible admirer is next to him ( _next to him!_ ).

He coughs to hide a sudden giggle threatening to come out of him; he hopes no one notices. (But the unsteady pounding from his chest is still so loud to his own ears. What if _they_ hear _that_?)

He steals a glance at the two persons on his left.

Changbin, his friend, seems to be in a good mood with the way his face is about to break because of his wide grin. No sign at all that he sees Minho’s internal dilemma.

 _Hmm…_ _Binnie is beaming_ , Minho notes to himself.

So he looks at Blu— _Jisung_. (He really needs to get used to Blue’s real name now.)

Minho looks at Jisung, searching for a sign. And the younger one did not disappoint at all.

Because Jisung is once again a canvass of pink [Minho _also_ feels his face burn, and he doesn’t know why, but he ignores this]. Jisung is blushing. Jisung is flustered. Jisung is—

Jisung is turning his head to his right, to Changbin’s direction.

And Minho nearly stops from walking. _Is this another piece of evidence that I can collect?_

[Minho also notes how the strands from Jisung’s blueish dark hair fall on the side of his face as he peeks at Changbin. Minho’s fingers twitch, itching to touch the young one’s hair to confirm if it’s soft as it looks.

His mind is so focused on imagining how Jisung’s hair would feel that he misses the younger student’s hushed mumble of _‘Changbin-hyung!’_

Minho also didn’t notice Changbin looking back at Jisung, the huge grin still on his lips.

The younger mouths, _‘Why is he here?’_

But Changbin only responds with an eyebrow dance. Then…]

**“I think I gotta take a dump.”**

Minho and Jisung halt at the same time, both shrieking, **“What?!”**

And before they know it, Changbin is putting the box he’s carrying on top of Minho’s, then he disappears from their sight by running away.

So they’re all alone in that hallway, awkward and tense because of each other’s presence.

A minute later, the younger boy scoffs. He mumbles something under his breath, and to the other boy, it sounded something like, _‘At least give the flash drive before you go, dumb hyung.’_

But the kid’s face is still flushed. (Maybe because of anger?)

Minho coughs, re-balancing the boxes on his hands and trying to ignore the tight air between them. **“L-let’s go?”**

Blue— Jisung only nods, skidding away by a few inches from him.

And they’re walking again. The awkwardness becomes more evident because of the silence.

Minho wanted to ask where they were even headed, but he bites his tongue for it.

Jisung is only a tiny bit ahead of Minho as they walk, so the latter can’t see his face anymore. He wants to know if disappointment is shown on his features because he didn’t have alone time with his crush.

And Minho just stares at the back of Jisung’s head, at his blue hair that the older had known for weeks now.

Then suddenly, Jisung turns around, declaring, **“Be right back!”** And just like Changbin earlier, he runs away.

Minho ends up with a perplexed face.

But since he doesn’t want to be a jerk, he stays where he is, even if the cartons on his hands are getting heavier by the second.

He remains there in the hallway, waiting alone, even if his arms are getting tired.

After about five minutes, a movement from the other end of the hall catches his eyes. A figure is coming from where the stairs are, from where Jisung disappeared to.

But as Minho squints his eyes, it isn’t Jisung but a different student.

So the older boy keeps waiting again.

Until someone coughs, gaining Minho’s attention.

It’s the student from before, with an annoyed look on his face.

 _He looks like an angry puppy_ , Minho notes as he also thinks that the boy is vaguely familiar. This is when he finally notices that the student is holding a box. And the older is once again filled with the feeling of confusion.

 **“Minho-hyung,”** the puppy starts, his face looking serious. **“We need to hurry. These boxes are required to be delivered quickly. Unfortunately, a coward who goes by the name of Han Jisung happens to exist in this world, so we are now 13 minutes late,”** the young boy explains in speed. And he proceeds to walk away, steps quicker than the hands of a clock.

With no other choice, Minho follows the student.

Of course, he ends up thinking… Did Jisung actually and literally run away from him?

[And with a heavy heart,] Minho adds this to his list of evidence that Blue/Jisung has a crush on Seo Changbin… a list that is slowly transforming into a record of proofs that Blue/Jisung seems to hate Minho’s guts.

[But of course, Minho insists that he shouldn’t care about it.]}

\--

**_ Four; _ **

They’re not on the stairs this time; they’re at the school library. Correction: Yushi and Minho are in the library, and Chan isn’t. This is because… out of them all, he is the only one who did his assignments in time. And Changbin… well, they don’t have a clue to where their other friend is or what he is doing. But he did text them that he’ll come by later.

And it’s quiet in the large space where other students are also present, either just reading a book, researching for a project, or rushing their assignments.

It’s so quiet that Yushi ends up sleeping, her head lying on top of her papers — good thing she isn’t drooling. (Minho just laughs at her.)

While his friend is taking a rest, Minho continues to do his work. He busies himself to the point that he didn’t even notice right away the two figures approaching their table.

[Minho doesn’t notice the younger of the two, pulling the sleeve of the older one’s uniform as if trying to say that they shouldn’t continue. But the latter has his grip on the former’s shoulders so that he can’t escape.]

 **“Hey, Lee,”** someone greets Minho, and he recognizes it right away as Changbin.

So he didn’t bother to look up. **“Hey,”** he greets back.

 **“So,”** Changbin starts, prolonging the ‘o’ sound. **“Can a friend join us for a bit?”** he asks, with a little bit of nervousness stained in his tone. But it’s more painted with excitement.

This is when Minho finally tears his gaze away from his papers. **“Are you sure you have other friends than us, though?”** He wiggles his eyebrows. [Well…] He _attempts_ to wiggle them, but as soon as he sees the ‘friend’ standing beside Changbin, his brain short circuits.

Blue — Jisung — is standing in front of Minho, and he is fidgeting with Changbin’s uniform sleeve, stepping from one foot to another.

_They were together?_

Minho is looking straight at Jisung while the other is looking at the ground. He clearly doesn’t want to be here. Maybe he wants to alone with Changbin. Maybe he doesn’t want to see Minho right now. Maybe—

Something pinches slightly in his heart. But he ignores it. He tries to focus on a situation where he can benefit.

 **“Uh—”** _I guess this will be another opportunity to witness evidence_ , Minho thinks. With this, he agrees, **“Sure, he can sit with us.”**

 **“Cool!”** Changbin casually says, throwing his belongings on top of the table. He faces Jisung to give a nod of his head. **“You okay, Ji?”** he asks the kid. Minho doesn’t miss the way his friend’s eyes shine.

With the other boy’s question, Jisung replies with a tiny _‘Yeah’_ before he sits down.

And this is when Minho realizes that Jisung is in front of him because Changbin took the one across Yushi’s.

He gulps unconsciously. Then he coughs awkwardly. Pretending that nothing is affecting him at all, Minho tries to busy himself again by shifting his focus back to his papers.

But maybe Changbin has other ideas — or perhaps he just doesn’t want to let Minho finish his homework — because he suddenly declares, **“So… I never got to formally introduce the two of you back then, right?”**

Minho raises his head to look at his friend suspiciously. **“Yeah?”**

Jisung, on the other hand, has his eyebrows shooting almost out of his forehead. **“Hyung?”**

And Minho doesn’t know why, but with the way the younger’s eyes become impossibly large, he almost giggles. But he remembers the ‘back then’ that Changbin is mentioning, and he remembers Jisung leaving him alone and running away from him. And he thinks again about the possibility that while Jisung seems to like Changbin, he also appears to equally dislike Minho.

 **“Minho, this is the kid I was telling you about,”** Changbin starts, his sentence vague. **“Han Jisung. I call him ‘Blue’ in my head sometimes.”** And he looks at Minho… pointedly.

The latter almost chokes but what takes him aback more is Jisung being in a similar state.

 **“Wha— What are you telling him about me?”** He clings his fingers onto Changbin’s arms, earning a quiet yelp from the other. **“Hyung?!”**

The kid seems to be panicking because maybe he doesn’t want Minho to know something about him.

Of course, this makes Minho more curious. And it registers… _Ah,_ he comments in his head. Is he afraid that Changbin told Minho about his disfavor towards him? He scoffs internally. _I already know that, though_.

 **“It’s okay,”** Minho comments, just because he wants Jisung to know that he _knows._ [But honestly, he’s not okay. He’s lying to himself. And more importantly, he’s fooling himself. And well, he doesn’t realize that yet.]

The kid didn’t seem to hear him, though.

Because Changbin also comments at the same time, **“It’s okay.”** He glances at Minho quickly before concentrating on Jisung and the alarming state his arm is in. He tries to fend the younger’s fingers off of him. **“I didn’t tell him anything. I just said something about you being the new kid in my club.”**

And with that, Jisung calms down, retreating his hands from the other boy. Not until something clicks in his brain and he’s back to attacking Changbin again. **“What do you mean you call me _‘_ Blue’? That’s it; I’ll change my hair color if you’ll keep teasing me.”**

**“Please no.”**

The two pause their quarreling and turn to stare at Minho.

This is when the latter grasps the fact that he is the one who said that.

 **“I mean, please don’t argue here. We’re at the library, remember?”** Minho quickly reasons, hands waving vaguely in the general direction of the books. He mentally gives himself a pat on the shoulder.

Jisung flushes suddenly, becoming redder than the hood he’s wearing on top of his uniform. And it’s possibly because he’s just embarrassed, Minho thinks.

[Changbin thinks otherwise, though, with the way he’s smirking right now at the sight of Minho gazing at Jisung and the latter’s flustered state.]

 **“Riiiiight,”** Changbin intercepts. **“Well, Jisung,”** he starts again, standing a bit to help him ‘present’ Minho with both of his hands. **“This is Lee Minho, the one chased by everyone, the popular tsundere of our school.”**

Minho glares at his friend. **“Riiiiight,”** he deadpans. But as he reverts his attention to Jisung, he fixes his features and faces the kid with a smile. **“Nice to meet you,”** he says, extending his hand for a shake.

To which, Jisung only gawks at, and Minho almost retracts it. But the former reaches out and shakes it eventually.

 _Hmm_ , _I guess he really dislikes me,_ Minho continues to contemplate. _But since I’m his crush’s friend, he just tolerates me._

[With him drowning in his thoughts, he fails to notice the brief peek that Jisung makes at Changbin. Minho also misses Changbin’s whisper of _‘What the hell? Why do you look like you’re about to murder someone?’_ ]

When Minho’s eyes refocus, what he gets to see is Jisung shoving Changbin’s shoulder. The push must have been hard because the latter almost falls off his chair.

Instead of laughing at his friend, Minho continues to eye them, ignoring the tiny ache in his chest. Because, of course, he shouldn’t feel things like _this_. He should feel enthusiastic that the scene he’s witnessing is another chance to solidify his belief that Jisung is an admirer of Changbin.

Jisung, with his beautiful blue hair, gorgeous eyes, adorable cheeks, and dazzlingly pretty lips, has a crush on Changbin, who is Minho’s friend.

(Thanks for the reminder, brain.)

Minho desperately looks away and gives the papers in front of him his attention. He continues to jot down a few sentences from a book while he also internally notes these scenes as another addition to his list of evidence for the love story of Jisung and Changbin (and an additional indication for his other list).

After a while, Minho gets his focus back, and he eventually finishes all his homework.

But even after he completes everything, he pretends to be still busy. All the while, he tries to sneak in between little glances at the two people in front of him.

Changbin is with his laptop, switching now and then from typing on the keyboard to write in a notebook.

Jisung, on the other hand,… is also sneaking glances at Changbin.

 _Of course, he’s his crush,_ Minho reasons, questioning later on why he is trying to convince something to himself.

It doesn’t help that besides stealing glances at Changbin, Jisung also does the same at Minho.

For the entirety of seven minutes, Minho has caught the young student about seven times looking at him. That’s once every minute.

Why is he conscious of Minho? Does he want to say something like _‘Please leave me alone with Changbin’_? Or is he trying to see if Minho knows about his secret?

When Minho can’t take it anymore [mainly because his heart can’t catch up], he confronts Jisung. **“Is there something on my face?”**

The boy blinks, his body leaning away from Minho. He bites his lips before answering, **“Handsomeness, I’d say.”**

 **“What?”** It’s Minho’s turn to blink. But it’s an action that he does several times. He’s too shocked to respond with any other else. There’s also a burn creeping on his neck.

Meanwhile, Jisung dares to also turn pink in color, but he keeps his composure.

Again, Minho is too shocked as he ponders where did this kid’s boldness suddenly come from? He’s been trying to duck away from Minho a couple times. Is he finally ready to start a fight now?

 **“Hey, I think we should go now,”** Changbin interrupts Minho’s thoughts. He’s talking to Jisung, but his eyes are looking anywhere but them. His one hand is blocking the view of his mouth. Minho thinks he’s smirking. Trust Changbin to find this situation funny.

Once Minho calms down, he watches the two get up with their belongings.

Changbin bids farewell, leaving with a statement saying it’s a club activity thing that Minho won’t understand. But the latter can’t concentrate because Jisung’s eyes are on him. And it’s partnered with a massive grin on his lips.

Minho steadily looks on, admiring the way Jisung’s smile seems to be heartshaped. He’s so distracted that he doesn’t notice right away that Changbin already left, but Jisung is still present.

Minho tries to refocus; he regains his hearing back and captures the words coming out of the kid’s mouth.

 **“Hyung hyung hyung,”** Jisung is saying, probably trying to catch his attention. **“It’s been a pleasure to finally meet you!”** he says once he knows that Minho is back to reality. He does a finger salute and quickly turns around.

Minho sees that the back of his neck, along with the tip of his ears, are flaming red. His mind registering the word _‘cute’_ at the sight of the younger boy.

 **“Ooh, does someone have a _wittle_ crush?”** Yushi suddenly teases, apparently already awake from her deep slumber.

To which Minho only retaliates with a light smack to her head.

But it seems that he also looks like a tomato with the way his face feels _so_ warm.

\--

**_ Five; _ **

[Remember when Minho said he doesn’t want to waste time to care if Blue/Jisung dislikes him? Well, it’s what he ends up doing anyway.]

They’re not at the stairs… yet. Well, Yushi and Changbin are there right now. But Minho and Chan are on their way to the cafeteria.

Chan lost in a game where the loser will buy lunch for the four of them. And Minho is just a kind soul who got pestered to help his friend carry all the food.

It seems to be a regular Thursday. The two boys are casually walking towards their destination, talking about plans after finishing high school. Chan is planning to take up music production while Minho is still thinking about choosing between being a computer major or a dance major.

Their conversation continues to what music are they’re interested in right now. Chan is suggesting to Minho to listen to Ed Sheeran’s songs, to which the latter isn’t surprised at all considering his friend isn’t actually subtle about his favoritism.

But once they get nearer to the cafeteria, Minho quickly spots another student coming out of the doors with four items in his hands (they’re lunchboxes, Minho realizes as he squints to inspect).

The student is happily eyeing his purchases as he almost skips, his blue hair bouncing a tiny bit. But when he tears his gaze away from the food, he catches the sight of Minho.

Jisung — the student — suddenly halts, his eyes growing large. He looks to his left and then to his right like he’s searching for something.

When Chan and Minho seem to be only about four meters away, Jisung is now shifting from one foot to another. Then he takes a step back.

And after that action, he looks over his shoulder, back to the inside of the vicinity.

And then—

He just turns around; his feet seem to be dancing above the ground like they’re clouds with how he moves at the speed of light.

And Minho, who’s just observing all of it, is confused. Last time, as they finally met, the younger’s confidence was oozing. But right now, Minho is questioning if maybe it was only a one-time thing.

It’s _literally_ like the other time when Jisung _literally_ did the same thing: he _literally_ ran away.

He runs away into the cafeteria, and the older can see him clearly going out of the other exit of the place.

Can’t Jisung really stand Minho’s presence that he throws himself away as if Minho is the plague?

No one answers his question, though. Minho will only know the truth if Jisung admits it himself.

Minho can’t see that happening soon, considering that they’re not even close and that the boy is allergic to him, so there’s no way they can have a conversation.

Speaking of conversation, Chan is still talking beside Minho, as if he didn’t realize that the other has stopped listening minutes ago. Minho mentally apologizes to his friend, then he continues to listen as if he wasn’t distracted earlier.

But of course, he can’t help but be preoccupied still. He feels like bursting from the scene he witnessed.

And that feeling only multiplies tenfold later when he and Chan come back to the stairs with all the food they’ll have for lunch.

Because as his friends rummage through the huge plastic of bread and lunchboxes to choose what they’ll eat, Minho finds himself looking at the other building.

It takes a few seconds, but Minho finds him, the blue hair giving him right away.

Jisung is still beside the vast window (‘cause maybe it’s his designated seat, the older realizes late). And he’s looking outside, a smile plastered on his cute face. His head is in the direction of Minho’s building.

But as expected, Jisung’s attention is _not_ on Minho.

It’s at Minho’s friends, of course, where Changbin is. Changbin, who is currently whining at Chan that the latter didn’t buy anything from the special lunchboxes available at the cafeteria. Changbin, who is currently being smacked by Yushi as she scolds him to not be picky.

And Minho really just wants to burst.

And as he stares at Jisung from what feels like miles away, he can’t help but think, _Look here. Look here! Look. At. Me!_

And then—

Jisung—

Jisung shifts his gaze.

He shifts his gaze from Minho’s group to Minho, as if the kid heard the latter’s thoughts [or demands].

Then—

Minho—

Minho explodes, his heart jumping out of his chest. And time stops.

[Meanwhile, the other boy is feeling the exact same thing when he sees that the older boy’s eyes are focused on him.

But he can’t take the powerful stare that Minho holds, so Jisung hides out of view.

He bends down, his chest lying on top of his desk. His hands are on his face, feeling its warmth.]

It’s a few seconds later when Minho finally recovers. And he realizes that Jisung disappeared suddenly. He is nowhere to be found and isn’t inside their classroom anymore.

Minho internally flicks himself on the forehead for feeling a pang of disappointment.

On his side, Chan calls him to _‘Get your ass here and eat!’_ because apparently, they took everything but the food that Minho dislikes.

He takes one last look at the building across theirs. With the blue-haired kid still missing, Minho takes a step forward to his friends and gets their unwanted choice of lunchbox without saying anything.

If his friends are confused about his actions, they didn’t comment about it.

\--

**_x_ **

{Minho is glaring at Yushi. And Yushi is glaring back at Minho.

 **“No,”** the boy repeats.

 **“Yes,”** the girl insists.

 **“Nooooo,”** Minho tries again. This time, he drags the word as if saying it that way will make the statement that Yushi said false.

 **“Oh my god,”** his friend whisper-yells. She clasps her fingers onto her short black hair. **“Just accept and admit it already!”**

And Minho doesn’t say anything for a second as he looks at his friend’s frustrated state.

 **“Are you sure?”** he asks, still doubtful. But the idea of it being the truth is slowly sinking in.

 **“Yes!”** Yushi almost shrieks. **“Yes, you’re just feeling jealous of Changbin. Yes, it’s because you have a crush on this Jisung kid,”** she repeats.

It’s the same thing she said a while ago after Minho have told her all about his current situation and his _feelings_ of wanting to blow up for an unknown reason. (It’s just that the apparent reason is just too farfetched, in Minho’s opinion. But that was only at the start. Right now, his belief is slowly crumbling away.)

Minho doesn’t say anything again. This time, he is quiet for more than a second.

And Yushi is still glaring at him, both her hands on her chest.

The two are in their classroom, sitting in their respective seats at the back. Chan and Changbin are at the front, four seats apart, taking naps while all of their classmates take a break.

Minho sighs in defeat. **“You’re right,”** he whispers.}

\--

**_Dislike_ **

They’re in their classroom. Well, only Yushi, Chan, and Changbin are. Because presently, Minho is walking in the hallways of the second building.

One of their teachers, Ms. Cha, has requested Minho to get some ‘important’ books from another teacher called Mr. Kang. It’s not the first time that the female teacher has asked Minho a similar request. (He thinks something is going on between the two educators, but he doesn’t want to dwell on it further.)

So there he is, walking with two books on his grip (and if he finds a note pressed between the pages of one of the materials, Minho pretends he didn’t see it). He just got back from the English Department on the second floor, and he’s on his way to the center stairs to go down.

But as he gets nearer to the flight of steps, Minho sees a familiar blob of blue hair.

The owner is walking towards Minho’s direction, his attention entirely focused on a notebook he’s holding.

The owner, Jisung, doesn’t notice Minho right away. He doesn’t see that Minho is actually frozen on his spot since he spotted the younger.

And Minho is thinking, _Radish and kimchi, now what?_

Meanwhile, Jisung is still unbothered.

That is until he lifts his head to look onwards. And then his eyes find Minho.

Just like the older, Jisung suddenly stops walking, notebook forgotten.

And they just stare at each other.

Minho, who recently found out about his unfortunate crush on the younger student, is waiting patiently for _something_. He doesn’t know what it is yet, but he waits.

Maybe it’s a reaction of some sort from Jisung, either a good one (smiling at Minho, perhaps, like when he was previously and questioningly confident in the library before) or bad (running away from Minho, for sure, like what he did at the cafeteria).

So Minho waits.

And—

And, of course, what happens is the last one.

Jisung runs away. _Again_.

He turns around abruptly, dragging himself away from the scene at the speed of light.

Minho, on the other hand, is confused. And he becomes more confused when he finds his feet sprinting across the hallway.

He is literally chasing after Jisung, the blue-haired kid that he has a crush on.

Jisung reaches the center stairs. His steps are loud as he scurries to get to the ground floor.

Minho, who isn’t going to give up, doubles his speed. And once he is within Jisung’s radius, he can’t help but smile as if it’s a victory for this whatever race they got themselves into.

Once Minho overpasses Jisung, he blocks the younger’s way, diminishing any chances for him to continue running.

Jisung stops in his tracks, his eyes bulging because of the shock that Minho caught up with him.

The older boy’s heart is beating rapidly, either because of running or Jisung being in front of him right now.

Either way, Minho takes a step forward and gestures for the other boy to go to the side of the hallway where they can’t obstruct anyone from walking.

Once they’re at the corner and recover their breaths, Minho says, **“H-hi.”**

And Jisung seems to be expecting something else because his eyebrows rise. **“Hi?”** he says back.

 **“I’m Lee Minho.”** And just as the words are out of Minho’s mouth, he slaps his head. He doesn’t do it mentally; he seriously hit himself.

 **“I— I know?”** Jisung responds, his face contorts in confusion.

 **“No, sorry. Give me a sec,”** Minho requests.

To which, Jisung obliges, tearing his gaze away from the older student. [He looks down at their feet, not wanting to look into Minho’s eyes.]

And as Minho organizes his thoughts (because honestly, he doesn’t even know why he chased Jisung), he gets a chance to observe the younger boy.

Jisung, with his blue hair that catches all of Minho’s attention a mile away. Jisung with his doe eyes, his squishy cheeks, and his pretty lips.

It’s a shame that while Jisung is beautiful, Minho will never get a chance to admire it freely with all of the other boy’s permission forever. So if this is his only chance, Minho will gladly take it all.

 **“I know,”** Minho suddenly says.

Jisung looks at him. **“What do you mean, hyung?”**

 **“I mean, I know what you feel towards me,”** Minho tries to explain.

But before he can continue further, the other boy is transforming into a red jelly and a blabbering mess. **“Wha— W-what?”**

 _I’ve broken him_ , Minho comments mentally. He is internally giggling because Jisung is _so_ cute as he stutters. **“I know that you hate me, okay?”** he continues, not even knowing why he wants this to be his message to the younger.

Jisung gets taken aback, his head moving backward. **“What did you say?”**

Minho looks at him. **“I get it; you hate me. But I just want to say…”** He pauses, letting the other boy keep up. Then he tries to joke, **“If you don’t like me, you can just always tell it straight to my face.”**

The statement only makes Jisung raise an eyebrow. A pregnant pause passes until the other asks in a serious tone, **“And if I like you? What should I do then? Don’t tell you?”**

Minho blinks as he processes the question. Then he short circuits. **“W-what?”**

Jisung isn’t a canvass of pink anymore. Instead, he’s back to his normal color and feels somewhat alright if his loud laugh doesn’t say otherwise.

Minho is muddled, his lips pouting in slight annoyance.

 **“Okay,”** Jisung says once he stops laughing. **“Okay, I’ll do that, hyung!”** He gives Minho a million-dollar grin. Then he skids away, out of Minho’s close range.

And Minho is left all alone, still dazed by how their conversation happened. _Haa, I need Yushi to help me absorb this,_ he says to himself, adding the needed guidance to his mental to-do list.

He looks around, finding that Jisung is now nowhere to be found. He composes himself, fixing his uniform while checking if he’s still holding the books he got from Mr. Kang.

Once he’s okay, Minho slowly walks out of the second building and back to the main building where Ms. Cha is waiting.

\--


	3. six. seven. kilig. start.

**_ Six; _ **

They’re not at the stairs this time. Yushi is not even the school because she was like, _‘I’m in the mood to be absent today.’_ Meanwhile, Chan is in a meeting with their adviser because of some class president things. So it’s just Minho and Changbin during lunch break, and they’re currently walking out of the cafeteria.

They each bought two triangle kimbap pieces, which would not be enough to be called a meal. But Changbin’s parents had him brought a giant lunchbox filled with tteokbokki, egg roll, and bulgogi, which is more than enough serving for one person. So the two friends decided to share it instead.

As they walk back towards the main building, Minho notices that Changbin has been texting someone while the former tells him a story about his three cats. So he asks, **“Is there somewhere you need to be right now?”**

 **“What do you mean?”** Changbin asks back without even looking from his phone as he types.

Minho doesn’t say anything. It’s not that he minds; it’s just that there’s shouting inside his mind, saying, _‘He’s talking to Blue! To Jisung!’_

Thinking about it now, he hasn’t really tried to observe if his friend feels the same as Jisung. Or if Changbin knows about the younger’s crush on him at all.

If they end up liking each other, what would happen then? What would happen to Minho? What would he do?

As these spiral through his thoughts, he steals a glance at his friend.

Minho loves Changbin as much as he pretends not to. If it happens, then he’ll know he’ll be happy. He’d be hurt, maybe, like a kid refused to be given candy. But he’ll get over it. Right?

 **“Minho?”** someone calls out to him, bringing Minho back from too much thinking.

Changbin is looking at him, his face scrunched.

**“Are you that hungry? You’ve been staring into nothingness.”**

Once Minho finally comes back to reality and understands the string of words his friend said, he scoffs. **“It’s because you walk slow! I would have left you a while ago if I weren’t patient. At this rate, I might also eat you for lunch.”**

Changin covers his chest with his hands as if to protect himself from harm that is Minho. **“Please spare me! I may be yummy, but I won’t let you eat me.”**

Minho fake gags, rolling his eyes in the process. **“Nevermind, I know I’ll get food poisoning anyway. I don’t want to risk my life.”**

The other boy stops walking, sending a deathly glare in Minho’s direction. **“Ah, I hope you’ll get an upset stomach later!”** he says with a pout.

 _Childish,_ Minho thinks, but it’s a nice kind of silly. He laughs directly at Changbin’s face, enunciating every ‘ha’ emotionlessly, his eyes bulging mockingly.

Then, they continue to walk, both their stomachs already complaining of hunger.

Later, after their purchases were eaten and the Seo household's massive lunchbox became empty, Minho announces that he’ll take a quick nap. Then he drifts off quietly into dreamland.

When he wakes up, it’s a little before their second class in the afternoon, and Minho panics. He looks around, dumbfounded when he notices that his classmates are almost gone. Some are astray and just chit-chatting normally.

Chan is still nowhere to be found, probably stuck with his class president duties still. But Changbin is also missing.

Minho asks around; he learns that class was canceled for the remainder of the day and that Changbin went out earlier.

Without thinking, Minho goes out of their room and into the hallway. He walks straight to the center stairs and goes down. He doesn’t know where he’s going, but it seems that his feet want him somewhere.

And that somewhere appears to be the second building.

Minho just finds himself standing on the first floor of the structure, in front of the stairs. His fingers are fidgeting at his sides.

After a minute of hesitation, he proceeds to the first step. But before his foot meets the ground, he hears a voice coming from upstairs.

And it’s Changbin’s.

 **“You won’t admit your feelings?”** he asks, his tone calm.

**“I won’t.”**

And _that_ is Blue’s.

Jisung’s.

Minho starts to climb the stairs slowly, his head straining from looking upward, searching for the two boys.

But he can’t see them.

There’s silence before another exchange of words happens.

 **“Why?”** Changbin asks.

And precisely as Minho finds them two, sitting on the middle of the floor near the steps, their backs to him, he hears Jisung say, **“It’s just a crush. And it’s not like I’d gain something from confessing.”**

_Feelings? Crushes? Are they talking about confessions?_

Minho immediately goes back down once he fully absorbs the conversation the two are having. Even being a curious cat, Minho doesn’t want to eavesdrop. He only wanted to verify if Changbin and Jisung were together at the moment, not hear a whole serious talk between the two of them about their feelings about each other.

Once he gets out of the second building, Minho rethinks about the part that he heard. So… maybe Changbin _is_ aware of the younger boy’s crush.

 _Huh_ , Minho comments internally. He looks back for a minute, thinking about what happened next. But he decides he’ll just wait until his friend would tell it to their circle. With this, he continues his journey back to the main building, feeling slightly hurt, of course. But he bottles it up.

[Meanwhile, Changbin and Jisung’s conversation continues. Both are still sitting on the floor with their hands hugging their knees to their chest.

 **“Okay, I won’t force you. But I just think that if you do, _he_ won’t reject you,”** the older responds.

 **“Confessing about crushes shouldn’t end up knowing if you are reciprocated or rejected,”** the younger comments, scoffing a little. **“Confessing should just be letting someone know that another person admires them.”**

Changbin looks on steadily at the windows, at the sky above.

Jisung continues to say, **“I mean, I won’t confess anyway. But shouldn’t it be like that?”**

 **“Yes,”** Changbin answers. He looks at the other boy just as he did the same. **“But I don’t think you got what I said. If you do confess to him, he _won’t_ reject you.”** He points to Jisung with his finger for some kind of emphasis. **“Rather, both of you would be happy.”**

And Jisung stares at the other student, not yet fully understanding the sentence. But when he finally does, he turns pink.

 **“Nah, I’ll just keep quiet. I’ll keep my promise to him,”** he says, even as his whole face is warm.]

Changbin didn’t say anything when he gets back later. Minho didn’t pry and pretends he isn’t interested in what happened between him and Jisung at all.

\--

**_x_ **

{In the next few days, Minho can’t help but notice that his friend is almost always on his phone. At times, he would catch Changbin smiling to himself.

Once again, though, Minho doesn’t say anything and wait. Even if he is dying of curiosity to know if the two are (somehow) already in the ‘getting to know each other _more’_ stage after confessing.

[Honestly, he shouldn’t just assume things.]}

\--

**_ Seven; _ **

They’re all sitting at the center stairs except Changbin. It’s because he has his club activities. But Chan, Yushi, and Minho are all present on their usual spot, watching the rain as it pours.

It’s not like they didn’t learn their lesson from last time. Each of them actually had their own umbrellas at the moment. But Yushi was commenting that she wasn’t in the mood to go home yet. Unexpectedly, Chan and Minho felt the same way.

So they’re just sitting there.

Chan and Yushi are next to each other, having a conversation about sports; the former has a black umbrella next to his seat while the latter has a lavender one sitting on her lap.

Minho, who is holding a mint green umbrella with his left hand, hides a yawn as he listens quietly to his two friends.

Later, he interrupts everyone when he asks if Changbin has an umbrella.

While Yushi replied with a _‘Probably none’_ to the question, Chan is already at his phone texting the inquiry to Changbin.

 **“Ah, apparently, he doesn’t,”** he announces later when their friend responds.

Minho shakes his head, sighing.

Then Chan continues, **“Oh! They’re done now, so he’ll be coming here,”**

Yushi comments that how would he even arrive safely under all the harsh rain that’s still happening. Her eyes are on Minho, a sly smile slowly forming on her lips. **“Go get him, Minho,”** she says. The sentence alone is likely pertaining to two different meanings.

The mentioned boy just rolls his eyes, but he stands up anyway. **“Sure, sure, I’ll leave. Enjoy your alone time,”** he teases as he walks away.

 **“Wait, Minho!”** Chan tries to yell, but Minho is already at his back on them, not bothering to look.

[So, of course, he doesn’t notice the pink blushes on their cheeks. But he already knows that. What he doesn’t know is that Changbin actually texted something to Chan. The latter is trying to stop him and explain that he shouldn’t bother anymore to get their other friend.]

Once Minho steps foot on the building where all the clubs are (it’s the one next to the second building), he heads to the west end of the hallway to go to the comfort room for a bit.

Changbin’s music appreciation club is at the other end of the hallway, so later, when Minho goes out of the public toilet, he heads in the opposite direction.

But before he gets to the room where he knows Changbin’s club is, he sees the boy already walking towards the building’s opening.

And he isn’t alone.

He’s with a girl, and they’re laughing and smiling so wide.

Both are also blushing so hard, they’re about to turn red, just like the umbrella the girl is currently holding.

Minho watches as they go out together under the said umbrella, slowing down his pace until he stops at the entrance.

Too many questions are flooding his mind right now.

Who is that girl? Why do they look like a couple? How about Blue? Jisung? Where the hell is he? Does he know about this?

And as if the universe is listening to all Minho’s queries, it places Jisung right beside him.

Minho only notices when a shade of blue appears in his peripheral vision. When he takes a look, he sees Jisung standing there, looking onwards to the outside.

Jisung is looking at the two people walking in the rain. At Changbin — _his crush!_ — and the girl.

And Minho acts as if he’s on autopilot.

He moves his body to the front of the other boy just to block the image he’s witnessing. Minho finds his hands covering Jisung’s eyes as he says, **“Don’t look; it’ll only hurt more.”**

His heart rapidly increases its beat, but he ignores the loudness of it. All his attention is on Jisung.

It’s just a crush on the younger’s part, but a confession happened between them. Minho thinks that betrayal is something that anyone would feel about the situation.

And he doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want Jisung to feel that way.

So he’s just there, trying to ‘protect’ the other boy.

But said other boy is taking Minho’s hands away from his eyes, asking, **“What are you doing, hyung?”**

Jisung is looking straight at him, and Minho’s brain almost malfunctions. **“Changbin and… and…”** he tries to start.

 **“Changbin-hyung and C.X-noona?”** Jisung continues for him. His face twists in confusion, eyebrows meeting in the middle. **“I know about them.”**

_What?_

Minho opens his mouth, then closes it. **“C.X?”**

Jisung smiles fondly, and it’s getting on Minho’s nerves because how brave is he to still do that?

The younger boy continues to speak, **“Yeah, it’s her nickname.”**

Minho is so lost at the moment that he’s not keeping up. He doesn’t know why Jisung is spouting about nicknames right now. But he waves his hand around as if to emphasize something. **“But your relationship? What do you mean you know about them? Are you not going to do anything?”**

 **“Uh, nothing? I’m their friend. What do you mean our relationship?”** Jisung’s face is still painted with puzzlement [which is honestly not arguable].

Clearly, Jisung’s brain is also malfunctioning like Minho’s. They both can’t think straight. _Ugh_.

Minho settles with being straightforward with his words. **“Don’t you like Changbin? You were getting along, right? You have this—”**

He gets cut off by Jisung yelling his head off. **“I like Changbin-hyung?!”**

Minho tilts his head to the side. **“Am I… wrong?”**

 **“You think I like Changbin-hyung?”** Jisung repeats, scoffing as he looks away. Then he giggles, hands covering his face as he does.

The older student just watches as the younger one loses it. The confusion on the latter’s face is now seen on the former’s. Some students walking by are looking at them with raised eyebrows. Some are even telling them to get out of the way.

But Minho is still focused on Jisung even as he finally composes himself.

 **“Haaa,”** he sighs happily. **“Okay, I know I said that if I like you, I won’t tell you. But I guess you need words to help you understand.”** Jisung says each word rapidly.

He clasps both of his hands onto Minho’s shoulders. His face suddenly becomes serious.

Minho’s heart is about to go out of his chest.

 **“You’re the one that I like, Minho-hyung,”** Jisung finally confesses.

_What?_

**“What?”** Minho repeats his thought out loud.

Jisung even has the audacity to smile cutely at him, his full cheeks on display. And it’s taking all of Minho not to squeeze Jisung’s face.

 **“I said I like you,”** the younger student says again, the smile still plastered on his lips. But then it falters, and then Jisung is vomiting a whole bunch of words in quick succession. **“I— I mean, I like you, and it’s not like I’m expecting some kind of response if you like me back,”** — he scratches his neck — **“which would be awesome if you do, but if you ever, you know, r-reject me, that’s awesome too.”** His eyes turn large, and his hands are suddenly everywhere. **“Wait! No! That would be sad, but I’ll accept it still, hyung. What— what I’m saying is that I like you, and I don’t expect anything at all, okay?”**

He’s turning into a canvass of pink once again. And Minho forgets for a while their situation because he can’t help but think, _Cute_.

Minho is the next one who giggles, and Jisung is taken aback. His eyes are still big, almost shining. But his lips are shaking because of nervousness.

And Minho continues to giggle because… _He’s so cute._

Now he can’t stand being quiet, so he tells the other boy, **“Yeah, I have a crush on you too.”**

Which didn’t result in Jisung smiling but instead, he turns redder.

(Okay, maybe this isn’t the seventh evidence. Maybe all Minho has are six proofs of Jisung’s crush on Changbin. But _this_ one, this is _one_ proof that all the others are pointless.)

\--

**_x_ **

It turns out that Changbin has been actually confessed to. But not by Jisung, but by a girl called ‘C.X’ from their club (which is the one that Minho saw).

And it also turns out that Changbin also likes her, but only realizing it after she confessed [on the day that Minho suddenly found Changbin and Jisung talking about ‘admitting feelings’].

Minho, Yushi, and Chan still feel betrayed, though. Especially knowing that their friend’s club members are the first ones to know about it.

Changbin reasons, **“I was going to tell you. I was just making sure first.”**

To which Yushi angrily replies, **“Are feelings trial and error? If she makes you smile so bright it can rival the stars, then you should feel sure about it!”**

Minho teases, **“Then, are you sure about Chan?”**

Despite blushing, Chan is the next to tease, **“Then, are you sure about Jisung?”**

And Minho surprises them all (well, maybe just Chan and Changbin because Yushi, being Yushi, is probably already aware) when he says without any hesitation, **“Yes.”**

\--

**_Kilig_ **

Some are looking at him.

Some of the people in the cafeteria are looking at Minho.

It’s not an everyday occurrence that Minho is sitting in the cafeteria instead of just buying food there and eating elsewhere. So maybe some are wondering why he is suddenly in a seat, seemingly calmly waiting for something.

The reason is that he _is_ waiting for something. Or someone.

Minho is waiting for Jisung.

It’s not a date. ( _Quit your nagging, Yushi! It’s not!_ )

Both just agreed to meet here to hang out. They’ll have small talks and maybe have a round of 20 questions — the get-to-know-each-other kind of meetup.

It’s just as simple as that. There’s nothing to freak out about.

But why is Minho a bundle of nerves right now?

He taps his fingers continuously on the table as he waits.

Once he gets a clear vision of the boy with blue hair walking into the cafeteria, Minho feels more nervous. But he raises his hand to signal to the other person about his location.

And Jisung locates him right away, smiling and waving a tiny _‘Hi!’_ as he goes in Minho’s direction.

When he gets to the table, he doesn’t sit. Instead, he places his elbows on the surface, his chin on top of his palms. He gives Minho a kissy smile before he greets, **“Hello, hyung!”**

The older student is so taken aback, he has his mouth open. But he closes it instantly to beam at the other. **“Hi, Jisung!”**

After that, the younger student finally takes his seat. **“Did you eat yet?”**

Minho shakes his head. **“No, but I bought some slices of cheesecake for both of us.”**

This is when Jisung notices the plate in the middle of the table and the two slices of dessert sitting on top. He cutely closes both of his fists and does a tiny dance. **“Is this my lucky day?”** He squeals.

Minho, as he looks on, quietly thanks Changbin for suggesting to buy the said cake. The look of delight on the other boy’s face is satisfying.

They talk for a while about the classes they had before lunch break. Jisung tells about how his friends almost followed him earlier just so they can watch him interact with Minho.

 **“I bet your handsome face they’re spying on us right now, though!”** Jisung casually says, the compliment slipping out of his tongue like it’s a trivial thing.

Minho coughs awkwardly, but he can’t help but smile. **“So, um, I was thinking,”** Minho interjects. **“Maybe we can have rounds where we ask each other some questions—”**

 **“Ooh! Like some sort of 20 questions thing? Sure!”** Jisung cuts him off, happily taking a bite of the dessert after.

The older boy nibbles his lower lip to stop himself from smiling even wider. **“Should I go first?”** When Jisung gives him permission, Minho asks, **“Can I poke your cheek?”**

The younger boy, who currently has a spoon of cheesecake on the way to his mouth, stops in his tracks.

He blinks once. Then he blinks again. It comes as a shock, but it appears that Minho is serious about it. So Jisung puts down the spoon and nods.

The other student lifts his hand and proceeds to have his pointer finger touch the skin on Jisung’s left cheek.

Minho has yet another big smile threatening to tug at his lips. And he gives in. **“This is nice,”** he comments as he pokes, the fat bouncing back under his fingertip.

Meanwhile, Jisung feels something warm creep on the back of his neck. **“Can I ask you a question now?”**

With his, the other boy retracts his finger and gives the younger an ‘ _Okay.’_

 **“Why did you think I liked Changbin-hyung?”** Jisung shoots right away.

This makes the older cough a little. **“I— Well, you were always looking at him.”**

Jisung smirks. **“And you noticed this because you were always looking at me, right?”** he teases.

Minho retaliates by saying, **“Hey, it’s my turn now.”**

The other boy rolls his eyes. **“Fine, fine! Ask me your second question then.”**

 **“Why are you always looking at Changbin?”** Minho inquires because, of course, he is a curious cat.

Jisung becomes quiet. And for a second, Minho thinks he should’ve just went with the usual 20 questions stuff like _‘What’s your favorite color?’_ But eventually, the other answers. **“I was just on edge, watching if he’ll say something about my crush on you.”**

Minho nods at this. He’s ready to give Jisung the next round when the younger continues to talk.

 **“He always teased me about it, you know? Ever since he caught me staring at you when all of your friends visited him once in our club.”** He smiles, remembering the encounter.

The older boy covers his mouth with his hand. The smile glued onto his lips keeps on getting wider, and he doesn’t know what to do anymore. **“You’re whipped for me, huh?”** he tries to joke. When Jisung gives him a look, he apologizes immediately. **“Sorry, sorry; please have your round.”**

Jisung coughs first. Then he traces his fingers on his blue hair. **“Is it true that your nickname for me is Blue?”**

Minho laughs, shaking his head. He knows it’s Changbin who did the tattletale, but he’ll face him later. Right now, he’ll concentrate on Jisung because he just can’t help to let out the fondness he’s feeling right now. He looks at the younger boy with shining eyes. **“Yeah.”**

 **“You won’t have anything to follow up with your answer?”** Jisung asks, his one eyebrow raised teasingly.

Minho grins. **“No, and by the way, that’s your third question.”**

The young student’s face changes from happily mocking to being offended, his lips hanging open then turning into a cute pout. **“Hey, no fair!”**

To which only garners a playful Minho who sticks out his tongue.

Jisung sends a glare. But with the way his cheeks become fuller with his pout still on display, Minho just can’t take the other boy seriously.

_Ah, cute cute cute._

**“Okay, sorry, that wasn’t counted. Go ask away,”** Minho gives in.

 **“You’re so whipped for me!”** the younger student whoops, doing another silly little dance.

The older student can’t stop but stare. The fond smile on his lips is starting to conquer everything: his mind, his heart, and his whole soul (maybe).

Minho waits for Jisung to finish his dancing, but never forgetting to giggle when the former does a small shout of _‘Hurray!’_

But then, the other boy turns his serious face on. And the atmosphere suddenly shifts.

 **“Hyung, I know you said it last time that…”** Jisung pauses, a slight blush coloring his cheeks. **“You know what you said—”**

 **“I forgot; what did I say, actually?”** Minho teases just to make the tension in the air lighter.

 **“I know that you know!”** Jisung cries, and the older boy waves a hand in apology. **“Well,”** the younger boy continues. **“I just want to ask. Are you sure? I mean, are you serious?”**

Minho drops his smile for a second, weighing the words of the question. He looks straight at Jisung.

Jisung, with his blue hair that Minho would love to touch. Jisung with his pretty pretty pretty eyes. Jisung with his cute fluffy, full cheeks. Jisung with his gorgeous pink heart-shaped lips.

Minho was lamenting before that he won’t get a chance to admire all of this up close. But now, he is. And even if they’re taking tiny steps, he’s sure it’s the start of _something_. So he puts his most serious face on as he says, **“Yeah, you have me.”**

\--

\--

**_Start_ **

As Seungmin balances the written chemical equation on the board, Jisung’s eyes are looking outside at the hallway.

His interests are currently nothing related to Science, so he lets himself space out, thinking about music production and lyrics writing instead.

He doesn’t notice when his friend returns to his seat later, the one beside Jisung.

 **“Mr. Kim,”** their teacher calls Seungmin again.

This disrupts Jisung’s thoughts for a bit, finally focusing on what’s happening inside their class.

Mr. Park, their teacher, is looking at Seungmin with a sly smile.

He’s been wildly known throughout campus that he likes to tease his students, especially the genius ones. So it comes out as a surprise to no one when it seems that Jisung’s friend is the teacher’s new victim today.

 **“Do you know Lee Minho of class 12-B?”** he asks.

Seungmin shakes his head, an eyebrow raised in puzzlement. **“No, sir.”**

 **“Ah. Will you wait for a second, then?”** Mr. Park requests, earning confused looks from every student in the room.

He gets up from his seat in front of the class and heads to the entrance. He appears to be looking out for something. And when he seems to have finally found it, he waves his hand. From somewhere in the hallway, a young student comes into view.

 **“Oh, who’s that?”** asks the boy sitting behind Jisung. **“He looks like a fox,”** he continues to say. **“Cute.”**

 **“Yikes. Does Hyunjin have a new crush?”** Felix comments from where he’s sitting behind Seungmin.

Hyunjin, who’s about to reply something, gets cut off before he can even say a word when Mr. Park is suddenly asking a favor from the young boy.

 **“Can you call that student for me?”** Mr. Park asks, pointing to the outside of the building.

All of the students look to the other side of the room, outside the large windowpanes. They all see a group of friends sitting on the center stairs on the other structure across theirs.

 **“That boy with the dark brown hair and small face,”** Mr. Park continues to say, describing one of the people hanging out.

Jisung can’t see the boy clearly, but it’s also maybe because his eyes are focused on another boy that he recognizes as one of his co-members in the music appreciation club. Jisung remembers that he’s called Seo Changbin.

 **“Okay, sir!”** The younger boy nods, voice loud as if eager to do the favor requested from him right away.

**“Alright, alright, thank you…?”**

**“Yang Jeongin of class 11-D, sir!”** The boy — Jeongin — chirps, the smile on his face so bright. He even has dimples.

 **“Ah, so cute!”** Hyunjin whispers, writing down something in his notebook.

Jisung guesses it’s the younger student’s name. He rolls his eyes at his friend.

 **“What does he want now?”** Seungmin mumbles from Jisung’s right.

 **“Maybe he wants to pair you up!”** Felix remarks, his body literally on the edge of his seat as he tries to move close to them.

Seungmin only scoffs. **“For what? On a debate?”**

Later, they find out that Felix is right. Because as the mentioned Lee Minho finally stands before all of them, Mr. Park is calling Seungmin again to the front.

He’s saying, **“Minho, there’s someone I think you’re compatible with!”** as he waves for Seungmin to walk faster.

The boy, Minho, doesn’t say anything. But his face flashes a look of cringe for a second before transforming into a neutral one.

But honestly, even if he’s making a set of faces, funny or mocking, Jisung knows he won’t take his eyes off of him for a nanosecond.

Because _wow_ , Lee Minho of class 12-B is so pretty. He’s a beautiful boy. _Wow,_ Jisung thinks again. _Someone like that really exists, huh?_

While Jisung continues to stare at the older boy, he misses the whole conversation exchanged among Mr. Park, Seugmin, and Minho. [It’s honestly somewhat of a disaster. Mr. Park says something about Minho having three cats, and Seungmin’s face contorts right away in confusion. To which mistakenly comes to Minho as a look of disgust. So the boy kind of harshly rejects the offer on behalf of Seungmin that Mr. Park makes about the two of them hanging out.]

As Minho walks away from their class, Jisung follows his every step with his eyes.

His friends instantly notice this, of course. So he ends up being teased later about how he dares to steal away Seungmin’s boy.

The latter only taunts at the term, saying, **“Nah, go ahead, Jisung. Have him!”**

Jisung finds himself blushing because he got caught. And also to the idea of Lee Minho smiling at him with his gorgeous eyes and handsome face and beautiful self.

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> hi,
> 
> \+ so it's finally finished. i wrote the last part in a rush because, as i've said, i'm trying to get this story off my plate so i can focus on [my first fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25523821). and yes, please also look forward to another work i'll be writing for a minsung event  
> \+ if there are errors, i promise i'll get back to them if i have time  
> \+ thanks for supporting me until now!  
> \+ p.s. i am actually not quite proud of this fic. but thanks for reading it anyway! also, what i'm more proud of is my other fic (so _please please please_ read that) [not at me begging y'all]  
> 

**Author's Note:**

>   
> hello again,  
> just a few things
> 
> \+ i can't remember the manga that inspired this because i've read it a long time ago. but it's been haunting me and i ended up writing and dragging minsung along. the general plot was from the manga. but the rest are my ideas. anyway, if anyone recognizes the manga source and knows the title, please comment to let me know  
> \+ the true story that inspired this (specifically, the last part) was mine and my partner's. haha. jisung was him and i was minho. lmao
> 
> anyway, that is all!  
> \+ don't forget to leave a kudos/comment. please and thank you!  
> \+ p.s. scream skz and minsung with me in [twitter](https://twitter.com/_SKZHEART), if you please! also, here is my [cc](https://curiouscat.qa/sheacuriouscat). i just... really would appreciate it if you talk to me  
> 


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